The use of social media is now common…by adults and kids. But a survey by Consumer Reports shows of the 20-million minors who actively used Facebook in the past year, 7 and a half-million were younger than 13, violating the terms of the website. And Consumer Report’s Jeff Fox says many users were even younger than that…

The survey found those young kids’ accounts were largely unsupervised by their parents, exposing their computers to malware and the kids to potential serious threats from predators or bullies. Fox says these are dangers and Facebook should take steps to verify users’ ages.

Fox says parents need to take this potential threat seriously…

Fox also recommends using Facebook’s privacy controls, turning off the Instant Personalization feature and using apps with caution.